With the Detroit Lions Wild Card Round win over the Los Angeles Rams, the franchise's first playoff win in 32 years, Jared Goff became the first quarterback in NFL history to win a playoff game against a team he previously won a playoff game with. Beating the head coach who didn't think it was good enough surely added extra sweetness to the victory for him
Goff made his first career playoff start in his second season, 2017, which was his first season with the aforementioned Sean McVay as his head coach. He would play in five more playoff games as a Ram, technically starting four of those.
The Lions and Goff will look to make it two playoff wins in a row Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with a trip to the NFC Championship Game on the line.
Jared Goff's career playoff history
In his aforementioned first playoff start, after the 2017 season, Goff went 24-for-45 for 259 yards with a touchdown (77.9 passer rating) as the Rams lost to the defending NFC champion Atlanta Falcons.
The following year, the Rams beat the Dallas Cowboys 30-22 in the Divisional Round. Goff was the definition of a game manager (15-for-28 for 186 yards), while C.J. Anderson and Todd Gurley combined for 238 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.
Goff was more productive in the NFC Championship Game against the New Orleans Saints (297 yards). But the thing everyone remembers from that game was a controversial non-call on an obvious pass interference that helped the Rams escape with a 26-23 win.
In Super Bowl LIII, the New England Patriots had a game plan that said "make Jared Goff beat us as a pure drop back passer", focused on taking away outside zone runs and play-action. He couldn't do it, going 19-for-38 for 229 yards with an interception and a 57.9 passer rating. He was sacked four times, and knocked down 12 times. That was the game that surely told McVay he couldn't win a Super Bowl with Goff, or at least that version of him, and he happened to be right.
The Rams returned to the playoffs in 2020. Goff, having suffered a broken thumb in the second-to-last regular season game, did not play in the regular season finale and John Wofford started the Wild Card game against the Seattle Seahawks even though Goff was cleared to play. Wofford suffered a neck injury in the first quarter, and as the less physically-compromised signal caller Goff came in and finished 9-for-19 for 155 yards and a touchdown as the Rams leaned on Cam Akers (28 carries for 131 yards) and got a defensive touchdown to go home with a 30-20 win.
In what would be his last game as a Ram, Goff went 21-for-27 for 174 yards and a touchdown in a 32-18 Divisional Round loss to the Green Bay Packers.
Goff of course got back to the postseason in his third season as a Lion, and he had an excellent performance (22-for-27 for 277 yards, one touchdown; 121.8 passer rating) against the Rams in the aforementioned Wild Card win.
Overall in his playoff career (seven games), Goff has completed 60.3 percent of his passes for 1,577 yards with five touchdowns, two interceptions and a 85.4 passer rating. With the win over the Rams last week, he has a career playoff record of 4-3.
Goff had a season-high 353 yards through the air against the Buccaneers down in Tampa Bay back in Week 6. Can he lead another victorious effort over the Buccaneers and reach his second career NFC Championship Game this week?